A variety of systems and methods are known by which information regarding the environment can be collected. Detectors, for example, can identify the presence of a human or an animal, the occurrence of an event, or the state of the environment. Humans, animals, or environmental phenomena can generate sound that can be detected. These sounds or audio signals typically have specific characteristics by which the source of the signal can be detected. For the purposes of this invention, “source” refers to any species of animal, object, act, or phenomena that may generate a signal in a detection area of a detection device. The source may be mobile—such as a human, animal, ship, or an environmental condition, such as a weather front or other condition, wave, or iceberg—and therefore have the ability to enter and leave a detection area of the detection device. The source may also be stationary and be present the entire time within the detection area at the time of detection. An example of a stationary source would be a portion of the earth within the detection area that experiences a seismic event—such as an earthquake—or an eruption—such as the appearance of a new volcano or activity from an existing volcano. Detection devices for capturing signals may be strategically placed in different locations in a geographical area to provide monitoring coverage for that area. For purposes of this invention, “signal” refers to any event, because of which data may be collected by a detection device.
Once the data is collected, it is often desirable to transmit that data or information regarding that data to one or more destinations. However, conventional systems for detecting and analyzing signals, and then transmitting data or information about such data to the one or more destinations are often problematic. For example, such conventional systems often do not have the necessary communication infrastructure to achieve a seamless transfer of data or information from the collection location to the one or more destinations. Also, conventional collection systems often cannot process the data according to specific parameters and provide that data or information to a user in a timely manner.
Other conventional systems rely on human interaction to transfer information between a collection location and one or more destinations. This type of processing of data can cause delays in the transfer of information to the one or more destinations, which may prevent users from being able to use the information or simply always provide largely outdated information to users.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and methods by which the signals generated by a wide variety of sources may be detected, the data generated thereby be analyzed according to pre-set parameters or newly set parameters, and the data and the information regarding the data distributed to one or more recipients in a timely manner.